Disposable absorbent articles such as disposable diapers, incontinence products, catamenial products and the like are widely used, and much effort has been made to improve the effectiveness and functionality of these articles. In general such articles have a fluid permeable body-facing layer, often referred to as a topsheet, a fluid impermeable garment-facing layer, often referred to as a backsheet, and a fluid storage member, often referred to as an absorbent core, sandwiched between the topsheet and the backsheet. Other components, such as acquisition layers, secondary topsheets, and adhesive fasteners are also well known in the art.
It is known to make laminates of web materials to combine the fluid handling properties of each into an improved fluid handling composite material. For example, it is known to combine into a laminate two nonwoven materials by needlepunching to produce integrally-bonded and entangled nonwoven webs. This process is often simply referred to as “needling.” U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,951 granted Jan. 14, 1992 to Guthrie, for example, discloses a nonwoven web composed of multiple layers bonded by a needling process that causes some fibers to extend through the entire thickness of the fabric and beyond the surface, thereby leaving short segments of filaments protruding from the exterior surface of the web. Frequently hydroentangling is used to accomplish a similar entangling of two fibrous nonwoven webs. Needling, like fluid entangling, is a relatively slow and therefore expensive process for manufacture of nonwoven webs, particularly for webs intended for disposable article use.
Needling, hydroentangling can be used to provide for texture to an otherwise flat web such as nonwovens. Additionally, other techniques such as passing a web through the nip of counter-rotating patterned rolls can be used to impart texture to a film or nonwoven web. Such texture is generally beneficial as the body-contacting portion of an article such as a garment or a disposable absorbent article. For example, commonly-assigned U.S. Ser. No. 10/720,557 filed Sep. 24, 2003 in the name of Hammons et al. which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/434,792 filed Dec. 18, 2002 in the name of Hammons, et al., discloses textured body-facing layers for sanitary napkins that improve fluid acquisition and result in the wearer having a clean body. In Hammons et al. the texture includes raised portions that contact the skin of the wearer to act as wipers to acquire fluid from the body.
There remains, however, a need for components of disposable absorbent articles having improved fluid handling properties.
Additionally, there is a need for a method of relatively inexpensively making components of disposable absorbent articles having improved fluid handling properties.